Scottish Festival Goes Full Kilt

Revelers Don Tartan Plaid For A Day Of Bagpipe Music, Highland Dancing, Caber-tossing And Other Festivities At A Celebration Patterned After Scottish Traditions.

June 21, 1999|By Lynn Van Matre, Tribune Staff Writer.

The skirl of bagpipes wafted over the Oak Brook Polo Grounds on Saturday as kilt-clad athletes tossed the caber and revelers hungry for a taste of Scotland queued up for sausage and chips.

The 13th annual Chicago Highland Games and Scottish Festival, one of 250 or so traditional Highland Games events held annually across North America, was in full swing.

There are older and bigger Scottish festivals, but the Oak Brook event had plenty to offer, said Jim Turnbull. Turnbull, of Scottish descent, had traveled from Detroit to attend Saturday's celebration.

"The litmus test for Scottish festivals is how many bagpipe bands there are at a fest," Turnbull said. "There are 54 pipe bands here, which is just short of awesome."

Turnbull attended the fest with his son, Matthew, of Riverside, who was wearing a kilt in a plaid the family described as the "Turnbull tartan." Matthew Turnbull's toddler daughter, Abigail, also was wearing plaid. Kilts, worn with leather belt pouches called sporrans, were the fashion of choice for many spectators at the games, as well as for those involved in athletic and musical competitions.

The festival was expected to draw 7,000 to 10,000 people from throughout the Chicago area, said Jim Patton of Homewood, admission gate chairman. Proceeds from the event, sponsored by the Illinois St. Andrew Society, the state's oldest charity, benefit the Scottish Home in North Riverside. The St. Andrew Society, established in 1846, has operated the facility for retired people since 1910.

The festival opened with morning rugby matches and continued into the evening with a ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee), or traditional Scottish party. Other activities throughout the day included sheep-herding demonstrations; athletic events in which contestants hurled a 16-foot pine tree log, called a caber, or used a pitchfork to toss bags of hay over a crossbar; a Celtic marketplace; a parade of Scottish clans; and drum and pipe band competitions.

On Saturday, the sounds of pipes and drums filled the musicians' area as groups rehearsed well-practiced routines one last time before the afternoon band competition. Members of Warrenville's Tunes of Glory Pipe Band formed an inward-facing circle, the traditional pipe band performance stance, for a last-minute practice session as members of the Des Plaines-based Glengael Pipe Band watched.

"There's a lot of camaraderie among the groups--except when you're out there playing in competition," said Glengael drummer Ron Kotlicky. "Then, you want to beat everybody. But after the competitions are over, we'll all have a beer together."

The Glengael musicians, who generally practice once a week, recently had stepped up their practice sessions to twice or even three times a week in preparation for the Highland Games, said Glengael Pipe Band drummer Mike Sheehan.

Nearby, a dozen or so Scottish deerhounds dozed in cages, apparently oblivious to the music. The dogs were there with their owners, members of the Oswego-based Midwest Scottish Deerhound Club. A large breed with wiry grayish or brindle-colored fur, Scottish deerhounds are rare even in their native Scotland, said Deerhound Club board member Bill Colosimo of Oswego.

"A woman just came by from Edinburgh, Scotland, who had never seen one," Colosimo said. "The kings of England used to have kennels of deerhounds used for hunting deer, but ours are all housedogs. My wife and I have a dozen at home, and five of them sleep in our bedroom."

In the Celtic marketplace, festival-goers browsed through booths that offered everything from imported Scottish canned goods to signs reading "PARKING FOR SCOTS ONLY--ALL OTHERS WILL BE TOWED." The Tea House, a specialty tea store in Naperville, offered a special blend of black teas called Highland Tay.

"I'm of Scottish descent, so we always enjoy coming here," said Tea House owner Dan Robertson, clad in a kilt in the Robertson tartan.

For festival-goers unsure of their Scottish roots, volunteers from the Scottish Genealogy Group of the Illinois St. Andrew Society stood ready with information on Chicago-area research facilities.

"We've been getting a lot of questions," said Jackie Torrance of La Grange, president of the group. "We Scots got around, and there are a lot of people of Scottish descent in the area."

Organizers said Highland Games began as athletic competitions in Scotland nearly 1,000 years ago. Migrating Scots brought the games with them to North America in the 1860s.